Saman Majd says, "These images are part of a larger series exploring how the expressiveness of the corporeal body is interpreted through its abstract shadow. The gestures of dance become blurred and ambiguous in their projected shadows.

The two images entitled “Longing” are part of a series exploring the themes of “longing and desire”. The images were shot during a private session in Lois Greenfield studio, NYC.

Born in Iran, I grew up in an itinerant family, living in the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East changing countries and schools every couple of years, I finally settled in the United States and became a citizen.

The struggle to find my identity continues to infuse my work. My work currently encompasses fine art nudes and abstract juxtapositions. Images generally are rooted in memory or dream fragments, both equally illusive."

CV Highlights:  

B & W Magazine, #128, June 2018, p. 162-163, Portfolio Contest – Merit Award
B & W Magazine, #129, October 2018, p. 21, Alternative Process Contest
Lenswork “Seeing in Sixes” 2018, p. 306-311 (top 50 finalists published as a book)
B & W Magazine, #132, April 2019, p. 37, Single Image Contest – Spotlight Award (nude category)
Monochrome Awards 2018, Honorable mention in the amateur nude category (https://monoawards.com/winners-gallery/monochrome-awards-2018/amateur/nude/hm/9378)
B & W Magazine, #133, June 2019, p. 30, Smartphone Contest
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur abstract category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/abstract/hm/9288)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur conceptual category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/conceptual/hm/9609)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur nude category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/nudes/hm/10128)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur nude category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/nudes/hm/10153)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur nude category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/nudes/hm/10156)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur nude category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/nudes/hm/10171)
B & W Magazine #134, August 2019, p.3 72-174 2019, Portfolio Contest – Merit Award
Soho Photo Gallery 2019 National Competition, Finalist and included in exhibition, July 2019

samanmajdfoto@gmail.com 
(website www.samanmajdfoto.com is under construction)
 

Saman Majd says, "These images are part of a larger series exploring how the expressiveness of the corporeal body is interpreted through its abstract shadow. The gestures of dance become blurred and ambiguous in their projected shadows.

The two images entitled “Longing” are part of a series exploring the themes of “longing and desire”. The images were shot during a private session in Lois Greenfield studio, NYC.

Born in Iran, I grew up in an itinerant family, living in the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East changing countries and schools every couple of years, I finally settled in the United States and became a citizen.

The struggle to find my identity continues to infuse my work. My work currently encompasses fine art nudes and abstract juxtapositions. Images generally are rooted in memory or dream fragments, both equally illusive."

CV Highlights:  

B & W Magazine, #128, June 2018, p. 162-163, Portfolio Contest – Merit Award
B & W Magazine, #129, October 2018, p. 21, Alternative Process Contest
Lenswork “Seeing in Sixes” 2018, p. 306-311 (top 50 finalists published as a book)
B & W Magazine, #132, April 2019, p. 37, Single Image Contest – Spotlight Award (nude category)
Monochrome Awards 2018, Honorable mention in the amateur nude category (https://monoawards.com/winners-gallery/monochrome-awards-2018/amateur/nude/hm/9378)
B & W Magazine, #133, June 2019, p. 30, Smartphone Contest
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur abstract category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/abstract/hm/9288)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur conceptual category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/conceptual/hm/9609)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur nude category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/nudes/hm/10128)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur nude category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/nudes/hm/10153)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur nude category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/nudes/hm/10156)
5th Fine Art Photography Awards 2019, Nominee in amateur nude category (https://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2018-2019/amateur/nudes/hm/10171)
B & W Magazine #134, August 2019, p.3 72-174 2019, Portfolio Contest – Merit Award
Soho Photo Gallery 2019 National Competition, Finalist and included in exhibition, July 2019

samanmajdfoto@gmail.com 
(website www.samanmajdfoto.com is under construction)

SameSource says, "Apples: Slope, is from my Apples series. The Apples Series consists of Still Life–meets–Fine Art Nude juxtaposition, featuring the forbidden fruit (with all its societal overtones) and the allure of the female form for which it often serves as metaphor.  

With the apple representing temptation and the duplicity of both female susceptibility and female seduction in various mythologies, this offers fertile ground for a dialogue about sexual imagery of women that I’ve attempted to make playful and thoughtful. 

Skateboarder, is from my work with the EMS Foto Group: The EMS FOTO GROUP is a collective of professional photographers organized by Eric Minh Swenson.  The group periodically gets together in the Los Angeles region to document life through the varied eyes of the photographers.  Select works are combined into a short film by Swenson.

Beach During Forest Fires was taken mid-day when smoke and debris from Malibu fires filled the air over Santa Monica Bay.  Unaltered color."

SameSource is a photographic artist with over two decades of professional experience recording images.   

SameSource fine art photography spans both landscape and bodyscape, often exploring human sexuality and its relationship with art.  

With recent showings from the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France, to Art Basel, Miami Beach, SameSource now brings a major show of the series, Reinterpreted, to Fabrik Projects Gallery for summer 2019.  

Honors include being named an Artist in Residency for 2019 by GilsfjordurArts at Gilsfjarðarbrekka in Gilsfjordur, Westfjords, Iceland, the international Lumiere Award for fine art nude photography, 2017, and Coagula Gallery’s Los Angeles Ten Top Artists exhibition for 2016 in a show curated by Tulsa Kinney of Artillery Magazine.  

In addition to being included in over 100 exhibitions in galleries and fairs around the world, SameSource work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Artillery Magazine, American Photo, two documentary films by EMS ARTS, and has twice been profiled by Silvershotz International Magazine of Contemporary Photography, as well as being one of 25 international artists featured in the magazine’s 2017 Folio of Fine Art Photography.  

With origins in the rural Midwest, the artist studied music and philosophy in a liberal arts education before traveling to Italy and becoming immersed in the works of the Renaissance.  

A return to the US brought the pursuit of graduate work in music and cinema, with an eventual arrival on the west coast via the prestigious University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.  

In addition to full-time work in photographic fine art, SameSource output has included notable works as a recording artist, writer, and filmmaker. 

SameSource is represented by Fabrik Projects.  For art inquiries, visit FabrikProjects.com.  

​SameSourceFineArt.com and follow SameSource on Artsy, Facebook, Instagram, & Vero; SameSourcePhoto on Twitter.

Slim Blanks says, "My career has three distinct orbits. One consists of commercial art and the related technical skills. The second consists of the traditional studio arts. In the middle, where the two orbits cross over to make a third, is where I work. I am not commercial or fine art studio. I am a blending of the two. And my approach to my work, reflects it.

If I was going to define my work I might use words like intimate, temporary, fragile, in flux, ephemeral and perhaps, uncomfortable or challenging.The more you view the work, the more it is exposed to the elements, the faster it will change: fall apart, dissolve, fade or melt. It is not designed to be shown outside of a defied, small window of time. Certainly never is it intended to be preserved. I understand the conservation and archival process. I just choose to deliberately go against them as you need to understand the rules to break the rules."

Sonia Melnikova-Raich says, "These three photographs come from my Light+Shadows Portfolio which comprises the images captured in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Mexico City, and Malaga (Spain) in the period from 2016 to 2019.

Its subject matter revolves around the mystery of perspective and geometry created by light and shadows in architectural image. It was inspired by the NYC paintings of Georgia O'Keefethe and the words of a famous American architect Louis Kahn, who said: "The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building." 

Sonia Melnikova-Raich was trained and worked as an architect and artist in Moscow, Russia, before she moved to San Francisco in 1987. When she turned to photography, schooling in art and design remained noticeably present in her works.

She exhibits locally and nationally and has been a finalist and a winner in many photography competitions. She has her works in public and private collections, has  been in over 50 group exhibits, had several solo shows, and had her works featured in the photography section of San Francisco Chronicle, as well as professional photography journals.

http://art.soniamelnikova.com
 

Stephen Lang says, "One of my favorite quotes is “Nothing is more important than the existence of what does not exist” by John Hawkes. This pretty much sums up my shooting philosophy. To create what isn’t openly seen or more importantly what isn’t there. To find something and be able to capture a variant that creates a new version of the original.

I am fascinated by what makes up a total image. The parts of something that can by themselves be a complete image. The abstractness of a section of flower or instrument or whatever else I see and shoot. To either fill a frame with it or allow it to wander and surround itself with negative space. Both being unique unto itself. Both allowing the viewer to wander with what I have created."

Stephen Lang grew up in Queens New York.  Through travel in New Mexico he found his eye. In his teens music and designing graphics helped him find an avenue for expression. But once he found photography he found the something that he was missing. His eye and sense of composition are his strength. That is something he found a long time ago and continues to watch it progress.

Stephen’s work appeals to an audience as eclectic as his imagery. The work has been used by an equally eclectic group. His client base has ranged from the Smithsonian’s NMAI (on staff) the NY Times Nat Geo and various magazines and with sales ranging from California to Europe his work is being seen by a wide range of discerning eyes.

Stephen’s photography isn’t simply a face value representation of what is in front of him. It incorporates his vision, beliefs, respect, humor and spiritual guidelines. It can go from faithfulness and truth to an abstraction of what he sees.

CV

2019

A Smith Gallery B&W Exhibition

United Photographic Artists Gallery (Represented)

Sherwoods Spirit of America (Represented)

Local Flavor Magazine

Official Santa Fe Tourist Guide

Placitas Wild Horse Benefit

Eye Photo Magazine – Photo Review

2018

Merit Award “Shades of Gray” Show Albuquerque, NM

United Photographic Artists Gallery, (Represented)

Sherwoods Spirit of America Gallery Santa Fe, NM, (Represented)

UPA Gallery Annual showcase Florida Museum of Photographic Arts FL

Artemisia Gallery Barcelona, Spain – Group Show “Matisos” “Nuances”

Minimalism Magazine Artist Spotlight

Faust Gallery Santa Fe, NM

Official Santa Fe Tourist Guide

Local Flavor Magazine

Private Collector Sales (Including but not limited to) Texas, California

Trend Magazine
 

www.stephenlangphotography.com

With an eye for minimal compositions, Susanna Patras feels more attracted to shapes, forms and the light that falls upon them. Photography can relate to poetry, in particular, haiku, because it can operate with the same distillation of vocabulary. The transition from poetry to photography was therefore simple.

Aesthetically influenced by both European and Asian minimalism, as well as the dramatic landscapes of Ansel Adams, her photographs seek to express a quiet moment of contemplation in nature, more than a document of the place. The viewer can experience feelings of solitude, harmony, and atmospheric drama. Composition is not only about careful placement of the subject in the frame, but also an experiment with the space between things. This is based on the concept of “Ma” a Japanese word that means “space” between two parts. 

After graduating from the university with a degree in English, Susanna Patras decided to follow a different career path and continued her studies in multimedia and photography. While during the first part of her career she focused on journalism and poetry, a few years ago her interest shifted towards visual arts, in particular graphic design and photography. Living on the western coast of the US, she often finds inspiration in scenes from the desert and the Pacific coast.  

Susanna also likes to travel and experience different cultures.Susanna’s images have been published over the years in Dodho Magazine, Landscape Photography Magazine, Don’t Take Pictures Magazine (juried exhibit).  She won several awards in Palm Springs Photo Festival (finalist), Monovisions Photography Magazine Awards (honorable mention), London International Creative Competition (honorable mention), and others.  Her work has been exhibited in several galleries in the US and Europe.

Susanna Patras was a member of the Houston Center for Photography, and currently, is a member of the Visual Artists’ Union of Romania. She is also a contributor to several photo stock agencies.

https://patrasphotography.com
 

Review by Curator Sandrine Hermand-Grisel: "As always choosing one winner out of many great images is difficult. But I choose "La Sombra" by Sylvia de Swaan as I feel the image expresses really well the theme "The Poetry of Shadows". The subject of Sylvia's photograph is a shadow. It is at the same time literal, the shadow of a man, and somewhat metaphorical, referring to the past of this old house and the people who lived in it. The contrast of her black and whites are inviting and at the same time they indicate a loss, a nostalgia.  I was seduced by her aesthetic choices and poetry."

Curator Sandrine Hermand-Grisel asks the following questions, "What is the story behind that photograph?, What message would you like it to convey?"

Sylvia de Swaan says, "It was my brother-in-law's 70th birthday on Ocober 16, 2010 to be celebrated at his ranch in the north of Veracruz. This was at the height of the drug wars when people told stories of brutal murders, of having seen corpses hanging from the underpass on the road to Tampico. Nevertheless, undaunted a wild celebration took place at his ranch with local musicians and plenty of alcohol that went late into the night.

My photograph, titled "La Sombra" (The Shadow) was meant to convey the endemic mystery and magic that comes through in ordinary life in Mexico, to be my answer to Sandrine's second question - or to cite an apocriphal quote by André Breton, that 'Mexico never had a surrealist movement because the whole is surreal.' "

More about Sylvia de Swaan:

Sylvia de Swaan says, "I'm a fine art and documentary photographer who has lived and worked in Mexico, Europe and the United States. I was born in Romania, immigrated to the U.S. with my mother and sister at age nine and in the post communist era have traveled extensively through the countries of Eastern Europe that we traversed as stateless refugees.

My work has been exhibited and published regionally and internationally and been awarded fellowships and grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Arts Link, Art Matters, Aarons Siskind foundations, Austrian Ministry of Culture, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Bemis Center for the Arts and The Society for Photographic Education.

Along with my personal work I have taught photography at Hamilton College and Pratt Insitute and for sixteen years was the founding Executive Director Sculpture Space, an international residency program located in Utica, NY

I work on long term self assigned projects to explore issues of individual and collective memory and identity, the state of the world and the places where I live. My longest running bodies of work are "Return: The Landscape of Memory"; "Mexico, Sacred and Profane"; "Where Will You Spend Eternity" set in Upstate New York and "Sub-Version," about our world post 9/11."

http://www.sylviadeswaan.com/
 

Thomas Oscar Miles says, "In worlds, met by elaborate dreamscapes and fairytale characters; the dichotomy of light and dark rule.

The power of the photographic form allows the photographer to capture these characters, embodying self-empowerment/discovery. The fine art medium inspires these stories to come to life by drawing in a range of elements to piece together detailed, delicate pieces of art that have a timeless and painterly feel.

I have been a student of art from the age of 16, since then I have discovered my love for photography and how it can bring all elements together. I now create inspired by fashion, traditional paintings and theatre to name a few. I work with a team of models and an MUA to help bring my stories to life, we collaborate on ideas and help build our portfolios up."

Tina Jo says, "Whenever I am filing out any government files, I have to check a box called “Alien” to identify myself.

I am not a green card holder nor a citizen in United States even though I have been living, studying, and working in United States since I was fifteen years old. From the years of living here, I have faced so many obstacles that led me to heartbreaks and always had me question “Why” , “Do I even belong here?” at a place that I considered home.

The saddest thing is that I’m not the only one going through this hardship of not having a proper status. My friend Yoori, who is currently on DACA is also living in fear on a daily basis. Always living with the question “Would anyone understand us?”, “Can we someday live without any fear of having to leave home?” These photographs each represent every concerns that I, and we carry.

Feeling of being faded away in this country, feeling like we have to live a hidden life, feeling like we are being terrored apart as time goes by more and more. Who are we inside? Maybe we contain different heritage, maybe we weren’t born in United States but we call this place home. We grew up in this culture, we worked so hard in this country but who are we in United States?"

Born in 1994, Tina Jo found interest in photography at the age of fifteen.
As she battled through depression from young age, she found a way to express her emotions through photography. Her work now contains explorations in lights, shadows, colors, forms, and fashion to bring the discourse of human existence.

www.tinajo.net
www.instagram.com/iamtinajo

Tom Stahl says, "When I recently hiked through the slot canyons of Arizona, I was struck by two things: the bright and vibrant colors, which cried out for color photography, and the amazing shadow patterns created by the lines on the canyons and the diffuse light, which looked best in black and white. With these three images I've tried to capture both feelings.

I am an award-winning landscape, travel, and architecture photographer based in San Francisco. My photographic experience started while documenting an around-the-world trip, and I have been photographing my travels ever since.

I won the Eisner Prize, the top photography price at UC Berkeley, two years in a row while a graduate student.  In 2017 I was a winner in the PDN “Great Outdoors” and “World in Focus” contests, two of my photos were finalists in the Arcaid Images Architectural Photography Awards, and I was a runner up in the Travel Photographer of the Year competition. My images have been exhibited in group shows in London, Berlin, Delhi, New York, Miami and California, and have been published around the world, including in the US, Great Britain, Hong Kong, and South Korea."

www.tomstahlphoto.com
@tomstahlphoto

POETRY OF SHADOWS HOME:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-poetry-of-shadows-sandrine-hermand-grisel  

FIRST PLACE:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-poetry-of-shadows-sandrine-hermand-grisel/first-place-la-sombra-by-sylvia-de-swaan/1  

SECOND PLACE:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-poetry-of-shadows-sandrine-hermand-grisel/second-place-winners-james-ritchie-night-lights-no-36-fuel-anastasia-davis-untitled-house-----/1  


HONORABLE MENTIONS:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-poetry-of-shadows-sandrine-hermand-grisel/honorable-mentions-lorenzo-formicola-denise-la2015-heather-barnes-textures-1-jo-ann-chaus-window-light-slim-blanks-untitled-1-frank-lynch-morning-sun-in-mrauk-oo-myanmar/1  

BEST SERIES:
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-poetry-of-shadows-sandrine-hermand-grisel/best-series-marna-bell/1  

EXHIBITION #1
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-poetry-of-shadows-sandrine-hermand-grisel/exhibition-1/1  

EXHIBITION #2
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-poetry-of-shadows-sandrine-hermand-grisel/exhibition-2/1  

EXHIBITION #3
https://nyphotocurator.com/the-poetry-of-shadows-sandrine-hermand-grisel/exhibition-3/1